Mental Health Awareness week took place on the last week of November, bringing with it three days of cute puppies, delicious foods, and interactions with new people. Three students for their senior project decided to bring awareness to all the different mental disorders that have influenced the lives of students. This event brought people together in a safe atmosphere where they could feel comfortable to express themselves. The PEACE course taught on campus focuses on mental health this year, which is one of the reasons why seniors Maddie Dion, Leah Arroyo, and Keara Reed, organized this project.

    “I want to bring awareness to different kinds of illnesses and to actually help those who have mental illnesses,” Dion said.

   Finals week is approaching and students are already stressed with the idea that they will be in their classroom for two hours, critically thinking and working on a test that will determine their grade for the semester. Dion brought her three therapy Cavalier King Charles Spaniels to help students cope with the stress as they pet the adorable dogs.

   “It was Maddie that decided to organize this Mental Health Awareness week event because she originally had the idea to bring her dogs in. We thought it would be good for everyone to play with cute dogs,” Reed said.

     Students are often stigmatized for having certain mental disorders, like anxiety, depression, personality, and eating disorders. The point of this special event is to help students realize that they are not alone.

   “We just want people to be more aware of what is going on–hopefully the students can learn more from it, not just the broad term, but more in depth knowledge,” Arroyo said.

   Many students had taken into consideration that they could express themselves with students around the school by sentimentally uniting with one another. Elsie Jimenez, a sophomore, went to Mental Health Awareness week mainly to be around the puppies.

   “Mental Health Awareness week was for people to calm down a little bit more mentally because finals are coming up and it’s really calming to go somewhere where you know you are going to have food that you probably like. Then there are dogs! Everybody loves dogs because they are small and they are so cute,” said Jimenez.

   The effect of this event on students has been overall very positive, based on friendly attitudes and the excited crowd surrounding the puppies. Students have received an important message: they should not feel ashamed with what they are dealing with. The event opened a new perspective on mental illnesses and temporarily relieved the tension of the upcoming finals.